The present invention relates to electric hair dryers in general, and more particularly to improvements in hair dryers of the type wherein streamlets of air are directed against the hair on the head of a person by a deformable hood which is placed onto and actually floats adjacent to the hair when the dryer is in use.
Hair dryers of the above outlined character employ a deformable and collapsible hood with a deformable outer panel which is impermeable to air and a deformable foraminous inner panel which is adjacent to the hair of the wearer of the hood and is surrounded by a plenum chamber receiving heated air from an air supplying apparatus including an electrically operated blower and an electrically operated air heating unit. As a rule, the housing of the blower is separably coupled to an extension of the hood so that it is adjacent to the chest of the wearer of the hood. The extension has two sections which extend along the sides of the face of the wearer and merge into each other at a level below the chin. The blower draws atmospheric air through slots which are provided in its bottom wall.
A hair dryer wherein the blower is suspended on an extension of the hood exhibits the advantage that the weight of the blower maintains the hood in an optimum position on the head of the wearer, not only in actual use but also prior to start or subsequent to completion of treatment with heated air. The blower can be said to constitute a weight which is adjacent to the chest so that its controls are within easy reach and that it obviates the need for any specially designed means for balancing the hood on the head of the wearer. Moreover, the wearer can readily reach the coupling which separably secures the housing of the blower to the extension of the hood. The coupling and the controls of the blower can be seen in a mirror which further simplifies the manipulation of such devices.
Atmospheric air which is drawn into and heated in the housing of the blower is forced into the plenum chamber and is divided into numerous streamlets which penetrate through the pores, interstices and/or holes of the inner panel on their way toward impingement upon the hair. The dimensions and configuration of the inner panel can be selected in such a way that the dryer can rapidly and uniformly or substantially uniformly condition the hair at the top, at the sides and in the back of the head wearing the hood.
A drawback of the aforedescribed hair dryer with a floating hood is that its capacity to contact the hair with heated air is limited by the relatively small combined cross-sectional area of the air-admitting slots in the bottom wall of the housing of the blower. It happens again and again that the admission of air by way of such slots is obstructed, either in part or entirely, by the garments of the wearer of the hood and/or by an object which is held in front of the chest at a level below the bottom wall of the housing. Lightweight garments (such as blouses, scarves or underwear) are likely to be attracted to the bottom wall of the housing by suction when the motor of the blower is on. This results in rapid overheating of the motor and pf the entire blower and reduces the efficiency of or totally interrupts the hair conditioning action. The accumulation of heat can be so pronounced that it can entail injury or discomfort to the user as well as damage to component parts of the hair dryer.
A further drawback of the above described conventional hair dryer is that, especially if the blower comprises a rapidly rotating impeller, it is likely to create draft which is felt by a relatively small part of the head and is highly unpleasant to the wearer of the hood, especially when the dryer is used for a relatively long interval of time. The development of draft is attributable primarily to the fact that the interior of the housing receives atmospheric air only from a relatively small part of the surrounding atmosphere, namely only by way of the slots in the bottom wall of the housing.